Outstanding in its field

Field Table, the newest spot on the Capitol Square, remains just a bit of an enigma even three months after opening. Is it a coffee shop? A farm-to-table restaurant? A high-end market? A fancy wine and cocktail bar? The answer, to varying degrees, is yes.

Even before the restaurant opened back in April, it struck me as wonderfully ambitious. Could one place really do so much? The service hours alone — 6:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., Monday through Saturday — seemed crazy, let alone the challenge of introducing Madison diners to the chimera-like concept. But after keeping an eye on Field Table for the last several weeks (it’s right around the corner from the Isthmus office, after all), I’ve been consistently impressed with the food and service. In fact, every time I’ve been in there I’ve smiled at the diverse clientele — construction workers grabbing coffee and doughnuts alongside the downtown office crowd; hipster foodies dining next to families.

Co-owned by Patricia Davis and André Darlington (a former Isthmus food critic), the interior space at 10 W. Mifflin St. is a pleasing amalgam of sleek, industrial-chic meets rustic, pastoral charm. Floor-to-ceiling windows open wide to let in the summer sun and, on weekends, the sights and sounds of the farmers’ market — a local institution that inspires much of Field Table’s food and overall concept. The menu changes frequently to reflect what’s in season, usually a little more often than once a month.

I’ll mention the doughnuts first, because they are excellent (and I don’t even like doughnuts). My favorite was filled with strawberry-jalapeño jam, topped with mango icing and dusted with chili powder — transcendent. A more restrained lemon poppyseed doughnut was light and flavorful, but the texture was oddly spongy and the glaze a bit too sticky. And no write-up of Field Table’s baked goods would be complete without mention of the cretzel, a pretzel-croissant hybrid filled with beer cheese. Just try it.

I’ve heard some people complain about the pre-made lunches (too small, too expensive), but I found them a rather pleasant surprise. A spicy pad Thai salad made with spaghetti squash instead of rice noodles is healthy, flavorful and deceptively filling, and a lettuce wrap stuffed with nutty freekeh (green wheat), hummus and pickled peppers is pretty to look at and bursting with fiber. The cheesemonger sandwich is a classy little baguette with spicy arugula, pickled onion, aioli and Sharfe Maxx (like a tangy Gruyere — my new favorite cheese!).

For lunch, Field Table is getting in on one of the major culinary trends of 2016: healthy food in bowls. They serve a “forest bowl” (wood ear mushrooms, sauteed collard greens, whipped sweet potato, lentils and toasted walnuts) and “macrobiotic bowl” (spinach, sea vegetables, quinoa, black barley, sunflower seeds, pepitas, pickled beets). Appetizing, nutrient-rich and reasonably affordable at $12 each, this is a quick and wholesome lunch option that the Square has been needing.

But the best bowl by far can be found on the dinner menu. A filet of salmon, charred outside and crudo within, is fanned elegantly around a nest of wheat soba noodles that cradle a single, perfect egg yolk. The maitake mushroom broth added a subtle umami, though the maitake mushrooms themselves were slightly undercooked.

Flank steak on a stick is a hearty, yet snack-sized, dish — two small strips of beef, cooked a bit past medium-rare, served aside gorgeous, perfectly charred romanesco broccoli and tender French radish. Vegetables come topped with a nice light tahini, but the texture is strangely gritty, and from an aesthetic standpoint, the opacity of the sauce covers up the psychedelic spiral texture of the romanesco. A more substantial dish is the pork belly, served with a slightly sweet chestnut and star anise glaze and piles of charred broccolini.

I added the simple salad — tender, baby gem lettuce; delicately shaved asparagus; english peas and buttermilk — as an afterthought to my order, but somehow it became my favorite dish. There’s something about perfect greens in peak season. Same goes for the roasted potatoes, which are actually smashed and deep fried (which means lots crunchy nooks and crannies). I say this with seriousness: These are better than any french fries I have ever eaten, in Madison or elsewhere.

For a restaurant so innovative, chef Shannon Berry uses a surprisingly light touch in crafting her dishes, letting the ingredients speak for themselves. Turns out, they have a lot to say.